Shark Tank

SHARK TANK… Squid is constantly on the move – not only is the Monterey Bay a big place, but Squid has to avoid the always-circling sharks.

Squid can’t imagine why anyone would welcome a shark into their home, unless they like to get bitten. But that seems to be what Taylor Salinas Property Management Co. is doing.

The produce company Taylor Farms’ massive headquarters at 150 Main St. in downtown Salinas is up for sale and seeking an investor to fork over $38.3 million, according to a listing posted on the commercial real estate website LoopNet on May 24. It advertises the nearly 100,000-square-foot property as an “absolute NNN lease,” or as it later describes in layman’s terms, “lessor has no landlord obligations.”

That last sentence at first had Squid worried. Squid knows absentee owners and their “out of sight, out of mind” attitude can be a major issue. But such leases are fairly common among commercial properties, and Squid is confident Taylor Farms—the original builder, and long-term tenant—will continue to upkeep the building as it has since it was built in 2015.

Taylor Farms sold the building to Delaware-based Taylor Salinas Property Management Co. for roughly the same price in 2015 as the investment firm is now asking. Squid is no financial expert, but wouldn’t you want to invest in something that has shown to increase its value over time?

HUMP DAY… When Squid is away from the lair and needs a nap, Squid usually doesn’t bother looking for a bed – cephalopods are happy just to burrow into the sand for some camouflage and to catch a wink. Squid understands that humans have more elaborate needs, hence the existence of hotels, motels and short-term rentals.

The latter has been a thorny issue for years, and finally made its way to the Monterey County Planning Commission on Wednesday, May 29 (see story, left). Squid was there to see how the sausage is made – or, it turns out, to learn how the camel got its humps.

One Carmel Valley short-term rental owner/operator, Charles Hawley, spoke up in support of lower fees, more streamlining and clarity in the regulations. “I hope you’ll simplify it as much as possible,” he said. He also had words about the years-long process that had brought everyone to this less-than-simple place: “Someone told me once a camel is a racehorse that’s been developed by a committee.”

Commission chair Martha Diehl observed that’s exactly the point of soliciting all of the competing perspectives over the years: “The public process is designed exactly to develop camels,” she said.

Squid isn’t sure why people don’t like camels anyway – maybe because they have a habit of spitting in people’s faces. But they only do that when they are annoyed.